Immigration officials arrest Apalach grocery manager

By David Adlerstein | dadlerstein@starfl.com | 850-653-8894

Sunday

Feb 12, 2017 at 11:50 AM

Jose Francisco “Pancho” Grijalva Monroy, 50, of Apalachicola, was arrested at the Piggly Wiggly where he works, part of what some local residents assumed to be a sweep of the region. But according to a spokeswoman for ICE, that was not the case.

APALACHICOLA — Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested the manager of a local grocery store, sparking rumors of immigration roundups.

Jose Francisco “Pancho” Grijalva Monroy, 50, of Apalachicola, was arrested at the Piggly Wiggly where he works, part of what some local residents assumed to be a sweep of the region, targeted at workplaces where undocumented aliens are suspected to be working.

But according to a spokeswoman for ICE, that was not the case. Tammy Spicer said Tuesday that “we have not had increased immigration law enforcement activities in the Franklin County area. There’s been no activity of that nature, nothing out of the norm.

“We did not go to seafood houses or construction sites and do multiple arrests last week.”

Spicer would not comment further on Monroy’s case.

Sources familiar with the case, who asked not to be identified, said Monroy was transported to Wakulla County, where ICE operates a detention facility as part of a contract with the county jail in Crawfordville.

Both Sheriff A.J. Smith and Apalachicola Police Chief Bobby Varnes said they were not part of Monroy’s arrest and were made aware ICE agents would be coming into the county only minutes before their arrival.

“They didn’t tell nobody,” Varnes said. “All they did is call the jail and advise they were going to be in the area. They used our (Apalachicola Police Department) office, and after that they left.”

The reasons for Monroy’s arrest have not been made public by ICE, which is responsible for apprehending non-U.S. citizens and keeping them in custody in detention facilities until they may be released on bond and their cases adjudicated.

Monroy, a native of El Salvador, has lived in Apalachicola over 20 years and helps manage one of Apalachicola’s two largest grocery stores.

Monroy was arrested in 1997 in Franklin County on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. But after successful completion of a deferred prosecution agreement, that case was dropped by prosecutors and closed with no finding of guilt.

Elizabeth Ricci, a leading immigration attorney in Tallahassee, said she could not speak on Monroy’s case. She did note, however, that her office had received several calls Friday regarding fears of ICE enforcement actions in the area, including a call from a construction crew leader who said he had heard agents were coming on to construction sites in the Gulf County area.

Ricci spoke generally about the immigration scenario facing Panhandle communities, a stepped-up enforcement that dates back from before the election of President donald Trump.

“I think people don’t realize there were more deportations under Obama than in the past,” she said. “In the last four to five years, he was not easy on deportations.”

Ricci said typically, a detainee arrested in connection with having violated immigration laws will be presented with a stipulated waiver, in which the individual agrees to be released and sent back to his home country without first seeing a judge.

But, she said, “Many of them will be eligible for a benefit of going before the judge. You have the right to see a judge as long as you haven’t been deported.”

In addition to not having ever been deported, a person who has lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years, has immediate family who are either citizens or permanent residents, and who has no serious criminal history is eligible for a hearing on what is typically a civil offense, punishable by deportation.

“If they have a criminal history, they need to have that vacated,” Ricci said, noting that there is a proposal under discussion in the Florida legislature for a crime to carry a higher penalty if committed by an undocumented alien.

She said the court that hears these cases in Orlando has at least 3,000 cases pending, and that she already is being assigned dates for cases expected to be heard in 2019 or 2020.

In the interim, those individuals eligible to be released on bond, which is usually in the $2,500 to $3,000 range, also can receive authorization to work and obtain permission to drive.

Ricci said signs of “anti immigrant fervor” have made immigration enforcement a priority all over the country.

“It can be just a sweep, to show they’re flexing muscles, that they want to see immigrants flee the area,” she said. “It looks good, it looks like we’re protecting America.”

She said she also expects that “we’ll see more and more I-9 compliance, where ICE will ask to see the employer’s I-9 (proof of legal residency forms). They can be fined hundreds or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“These kinds of raids or sweeps can break a town,” she said. “You have towns that have immigrant-heavy industries that rely on these people. They’re hardworking people, they’re family values people, but a number get scared and they leave the town.

“Then there’s no one to pick up” the work,” she said. “The crops were dying on the vine.”

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